Neutron scattering study of dilute supercritical solutions
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Univ., of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Dilute solutions in supercritical solvents exhibit interesting microstructures that are related to their dramatic macroscopic behavior. In typical attractive solutions, solutes are believed to be surrounded by clusters of solvent molecules, and solute molecules are believed to congregate in the vicinity of one another. Repulsive solutions, on the other hand, exhibit a local region of reduced solvent density around the solute with solute-solute congregation. Such microstructures influence solubility, partial molar volume, reaction kinetics, and many other properties. We have undertaken to observe these interesting microstructures directly by neutron scattering experiments on dilute noble gas systems including Ar. The three partial structure factors for such systems and the corresponding pair correlation functions can be determined by using the isotope substitution technique. The systems studied are uniquely suited for our objectives because of the large coherent neutron scattering length of the isotope {sup 36}Ar and because of the accurate potential energy functions that are available for use in molecular simulations and theoretical calculations to be compared with the scattering results. We will describe our experiment, the unique apparatus we have built for it, and the neutron scattering results from our initial allocations of beam time. We will also describe planned scattering experiments to follow those with noble gases, including study of long-chain molecules in supercritical solvents. Such studies will involve hydrocarbon mixtures with and without deuteration to provide contrast.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 10185426
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9410114-2; ON: DE95000493; TRN: 94:020277
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 3. international symposium on supercritical fluids,Strasbourg (France),17-19 Oct 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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